The children entertained the audience with renditions of 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'. There was also a lively burst of drums, courtesy of Will Iles.

Chair of KPC Youth, Paula Lunnon, said the Lottery funding was welcome but has to last three years.

The charity still runs with a shortfall of £40,000 per year.

'We need £100,000 every year to cover staff, and the centre costs £40,000 per year to run, with insurance alone being £6,000,' she said. 'At the beginning of this year we had run out of money, and we had to run this place on our reserves until October.

'We are always thinking of new ways to raise money to meet the shortfall. We recycle things like toner cartridges for some extra money, and have a relationship with eBay, where people can donate to us as they shop online. 'We can't just rest now we have obtained this Lottery funding. We always need more to keep these young people engaged.'

Alison Mawby, Project Manager at KPC, said: 'We will be introducing our, 'What I Need' project, which is basically a scheme where the young people feed back to us, through discussion, the issues they need addressing at the moment.

'We have already established that there is a need for a minibus, which could bring some of our young people, particularly the girls, to and from Cornelly in the evenings, so we will be looking into that.

'We are also encouraging peer mentoring, where the older youths can advise support and guide the younger members.

'We have a theme of the moment, which changes with the young people's needs. It may be racism, mobile phone bullying or 'happy slapping' - whatever the kids bring up as the theme, we address.'

l If any young people or their parents would like to find out more, ring 749219 for details.